The present invention relates generally to toy vehicles and, more particularly, to a toy vehicle having front opening gates and an ejectable flywheel seat which may be used as a gyroscopic top or to propel the vehicle.
In the past, numerous flywheel designs have been used for the purpose of propelling toy vehicles such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,556,396 issued to Kennedy et al on Dec. 3, 1985; 4,443,967 issued to Jones et al on Apr. 24, 1984; Re. 30,299 reissued to Greenwood on June 10, 1980; 3,984,939 issued to Wolgamot et al on Oct. 12 1976; 3,932,957 issued to Morrison et al on Jan. 20, 1976; 3,698,129 issued to Lemelson on Oct. 17, 1972 and 2,873,553 issued to Ullman on Feb. 17, 1959. A gyroscopic top is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,736,132 issued to Murray on Feb. 28, 1956. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,518 issued to Smathers et al on Aug. 7, 1984 describes a toy top which may be rotatably mounted inside a toy vehicle. The top is rotated by gears engaging the wheels of the vehicle. A child may eject the top from the toy vheicle by suddenly stopping the wheels of the vehicle from rotating such as when the toy is crashed into a stationary object.
The toy vehicle with the ejectable top described above may be used to eject the top only when the vehicle is brought to a sudden stop. This limits the play options to a child who may wish to keep the toy vehicle moving after the top is ejected. Also, numerous sudden stops may result in damage to the gears of the toy vehicle.
These problems would be eliminated by a seat with a built-in flywheel which is releasably mounted on a toy vehicle and functions as both a seat for a figure toy and a gyroscopic top capable of being ejected from the vehicle by a launching lever. The flywheel could be used to propel the toy vehicle forward so long as the seat remains mounted on the vehicle. Additional play options would be presented if the front of the toy vehicle opened as the seat or top is ejected by the launching lever. Accordingly, there is a need in the toy manufacturing arts for a toy vehicle having front opening gates and an ejectable flywheel seat which may be used to propel the vehicle or as a gyroscopic top after it is ejected by a launching lever.